direction

Set the direction CSS property to match the direction of the text: rtl for languages written from right-to-left (like Hebrew or Arabic) text and ltr for other scripts. This is typically done as part of the document (e.g., using the dir attribute in HTML) rather than through direct use of CSS.

The property sets the base text direction of block-level elements and the direction of embeddings created by the unicode-bidi property. It also sets the default alignment of text and block-level elements and the direction that cells flow within a table row.

Unlike the dir attribute in HTML, the direction property is not inherited from table columns into table cells, since CSS inheritance follows the document tree, and table cells are inside of the rows but not inside of the columns.

The direction and unicode-bidi properties are the two only properties which are not affected by the all shorthand.

Initial value	ltr
Applies to	all elements
Inherited	yes
Media	visual
Computed value	as specified
Animation type	discrete
Canonical order	the unique non-ambiguous order defined by the formal grammar

Syntax

direction: ltr;
direction: rtl;

/* Global values */
direction: inherit;
direction: initial;
direction: unset;

Values

ltr

The initial value of direction (that is, if not otherwise specified). Text and other elements go from left to right.

rtl

Text and other elements go from right to left

For the direction property to have any effect on inline-level elements, the unicode-bidi property's value must be embed or override.

Formal syntax

ltr | rtl

Examples

blockquote {
  direction: rtl;
}

Specification

Specification	Status	Comment
CSS Writing Modes Module Level 3 The definition of 'direction' in that specification.	Candidate Recommendation	No change.
CSS Level 2 (Revision 1) The definition of 'direction' in that specification.	Recommendation	Initial definition.

Browser compatibility

See also

• unicode-bidi
• writing-mode